iFixit introduces battery replacement kit for Apple's MacBook Pro with Retina display

2»

Comments

  • Reply 21 of 28
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    What I do not understand, though, is the rush to make the iMacs thinner with each generation.
    1) They don't do any generational thinning with any of their Mac products. I think they all have several cycles and years on the market before they adjust the thickness again.

    2) There are definitively reasons why Apple wants the iMac thinner and lighter, and that may even include customer's desiring a new iMac to appear thinner. At the very least, taking up less room and being lighter for travel and storage, and using less aluminium are benefits for Apple when designing these large devices. Surely you can see that.
  • Reply 22 of 28
    dysamoria said:
    Logic failures in the above comments:

    • "This is the direction things are going" as an excuse to give in to a practice that's anti-consumer, anti-environmental, and only a benefit to manufacturers' profit margins.

    • "Specialized training" as a presumption that authorized technicians are somehow better than non-authorized technicians. Haven't any of you been employed by tech makers? Don't put unknown people on a pedestal. There's only so much training manufacturers give to authorized services.

    (etc)
    I couldnt agree more.

    Also, it's not repairing a $ 2000 to 3000 laptop, it's saving a used, often financially written off machine, maybe worth 25% of that, from losing it's funtionality as a laptop and being recycled just for the chemicals in the battery.

    It's baffling how people defend it to theirselves – and us – to pay $ 100 just to change a battery. A job that is deleberately made unnecessarily hard, only to justify the $ 100 price tag.
  • Reply 23 of 28
    thrangthrang Posts: 1,007member

    I'm fairly certain Apple and most other companies, during the times of easier repairability, were presented with non-function or otherwise damaged units during botched attempts at DIY. So there would be unfcomfortable stand-offs of blame, or Apple would have to eat the costs. And things like high capacity batteries (in laptops) could be a liability issue if someone did something incorrectly.

    If spending $199 gives you about two years of additional life, why on Earth would you try and save $100 to DIY rather than have Apple do it the proper way? If you're worried about .14 cents a day (over two years) for something that important, you probably should be doling out for a MacBook to begin with.

    And I suspect a vast majority or people a) don't give a crap about repairing themselves and b) would never choose a bulkier, heavier but DIY-friendly design over the streamlined and lightweight unibody designs that are obviously immensely popular.

    This is not a tinker's company...don't buy their products if you will lament that...

    edited July 2017 macxpress
  • Reply 24 of 28
    AI_liasAI_lias Posts: 434member
    Cons: savings not worth it, because you're never sure of the battery quality you get, vs. Apple official replacement for $199. 
    Con: saving not big enough for tedious work and risk
    Pro: there will come a time when Apple won't offer this service any longer for those models, at any price. 
  • Reply 25 of 28
    mystigomystigo Posts: 183member
    These machines are a horror to repair. I replaced a keyboard in one. The keyboard is literally riveted to the case. You have to physically rip the old one out and hope enough rivets pop out the you can securely screw / glue the new one in. If it were not for the iFixit guide I could not have have hoped to do this. The laptop would have just been trashed. I use their site frequently for repairs like this on all kinds of electronics.
  • Reply 26 of 28
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    thrang said:

    I'm fairly certain Apple and most other companies, during the times of easier repairability, were presented with non-function or otherwise damaged units during botched attempts at DIY. So there would be unfcomfortable stand-offs of blame, or Apple would have to eat the costs. And things like high capacity batteries (in laptops) could be a liability issue if someone did something incorrectly.

    If spending $199 gives you about two years of additional life, why on Earth would you try and save $100 to DIY rather than have Apple do it the proper way? If you're worried about .14 cents a day (over two years) for something that important, you probably should be doling out for a MacBook to begin with.

    And I suspect a vast majority or people a) don't give a crap about repairing themselves and b) would never choose a bulkier, heavier but DIY-friendly design over the streamlined and lightweight unibody designs that are obviously immensely popular.

    This is not a tinker's company...don't buy their products if you will lament that…

    What I don't have to buy a battery or any other component, but have multiple parts from various devices that were considered "broken" in some way? Why should I then take them in to have Apple fix them at cost, some of which can cost upwards of $1500—which is the flat rate is cost me to fix my 15" MBP after a major spill required the upper chassis, battery, keyboard, trackpad, and logic board be replaced.

    What if I were able to get my hands on a good chassis for $200 because it had a broken display. Would it still be foolish for me to to use iFixit's guides to switch components to create a single, working machine?

    What about when Apple no longer supports an old device that someone wants working? I've dealt with all these and will likely deal with them all again. Even just last week I replaced an iPhone 5 display that was cracked. It cost me around $40 for the display and the person will likely get a couple years of use our of the iPhone, but you think they're wrong for not taking it into Apple and I'm wrong for offering to replace it for them because of your "pennies per day" argument? Why be offended with any of this as implied per your "this is not a tinker's company" statement?
  • Reply 27 of 28
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    If the market for laptops did not demand that they be thin and lightweight, they would be much easier to service. To make a unit as thin as the current MB line is requires many compromises in accessibility to the internal components. Adding a battery that is removable would add a minimum of half an inch in thickness. What I do not understand, though, is the rush to make the iMacs thinner with each generation.

    The iMac to my knowledge hasn't gotten any thinner in quite a while. There's no reason the iMac needs to be 1-2" thick anyways. Apple can still put decent chips inside with the current design and thinness...just look at the current iMac line up, and the new iMac Pro coming later this year. 
  • Reply 28 of 28
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    dysamoria said:
    Logic failures in the above comments:

    • "This is the direction things are going" as an excuse to give in to a practice that's anti-consumer, anti-environmental, and only a benefit to manufacturers' profit margins.

    • "Specialized training" as a presumption that authorized technicians are somehow better than non-authorized technicians. Haven't any of you been employed by tech makers? Don't put unknown people on a pedestal. There's only so much training manufacturers give to authorized services.

    (etc)
    I couldnt agree more.

    Also, it's not repairing a $ 2000 to 3000 laptop, it's saving a used, often financially written off machine, maybe worth 25% of that, from losing it's funtionality as a laptop and being recycled just for the chemicals in the battery.

    It's baffling how people defend it to theirselves – and us – to pay $ 100 just to change a battery. A job that is deleberately made unnecessarily hard, only to justify the $ 100 price tag.
    What proof do you have that Apple "deliberately" made it difficult for users to change the battery? I love how people like you put thoughts into Apple's head with silly comments like this. Do you really think for a second that a bunch of designers and engineers sit in a room and think "what's the most difficult thing we can do to make it hard, if not impossible for customers to change out the battery"? Is the battery really that much of an issue? I support a lot of Macs and really I've never really experienced very many issues with Apple batteries, even after a few years go by and when I do start to see battery degradation, the Mac is out of date anyways. 

    If you don't like the fact that you can't change the battery, then go get a laptop where you can if you think its that important to you. 
    edited July 2017
Sign In or Register to comment.